Chapter 8: CHAPTER 8: THE SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT & WIZARDRY

“Hogwarts, a beautiful place, it’s a place to learn, it’s a place to grow up, it’s a place to build relationships, Hogwarts is a magical place.”

 

-Richard Neil, talking about Hogwarts in the book ‘Ordeal of the Hopebringer’

 

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Ed woke up early in the morning, for the first time, he did the routine that Gilligan gave him, he ran around the lake, and practised spells in the training room. He felt tired after all that, it was his first time doing this routine after all, but he persevered. He also wrote a letter to Anna and Roger, saying that he had arrived at Hogwarts and was okay, and sent it using Ophelia. After that he took a long shower to relax his muscles, he wore his uniform and sat in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. Because there was no class today, he’s just laying around on the sofa, relaxing his muscles even more. He read a book about the theory of magic and just sat comfortably.

About an hour later, people started to leave their dorms. He saw a couple of fifth years and seven years, probably to study for their O. W. Ls and N. E. W. Ts, then Hermione came out of her dorm, she saw Ed was sitting on the sofa and greeted him.

“Hello Ed, you’re up early.” She said, while sitting beside Ed.

“Um, yes, I exercise, and I also want to review a bit of the lessons before actually going to it.” Said Ed while still reading, not looking at Hermione.

“Review? You already learned it?” Asked Hermione with interest. She looked at what Ed was reading

“Yes, I already learned it, the first-year course is quite simple after all.” He said while bringing out his wand and used the Wand-Lighting Charm Nonverbally.

Hermione looked baffled, she looked at his wand and stuttered, “That’s— Nonverbal—Where did you practise? you said it was illegal to do magic outside of school!”

“Well, yes, it’s illegal.” Said Ed casually, and he finally looked at Hermione with an innocent smile.

Before Hermione could be angry at him, he closed the book he was reading, he stood up, looked at Hermione and said, “Anyway, I want to explore the castle a bit, we will live in this place for about 7 years after all, want to join me?”

She glared at Ed because of the change of topic, then she pondered a while and nodded.

“Okay then wait for me, I’ll put the book back to my dorm.” Ed said while walking towards the spiralling staircase. He went inside his room, and he saw everyone was still asleep. He was going to ask Neville but the boy was still laying on his bed comfortably, so he decided against waking him up. He put the book on his bed and went back to the common room.

“Ready?” asked Ed to Hermione who was still sitting on the same spot as before. She just nodded and they exited the portrait. They walked through the corridors, examining the portraits that were hanging on the wall, they toured the shores of the black lake, they went to the Quidditch field, they went to see the trophy room, while they were touring, Hermione was constantly barraging Ed with History Trivia, trying to impress him, ‘I’m going to have to talk to her about this, it’s only the first day and it’s already annoying.’ Ed thought. 

Then they arrived at the library, much to Hermione's excitement. They went inside and Hermione instantly ran to the shelves, looking at the books available, while waiting Hermione to finish her ‘bookgasm’, Ed just sat in one of the available seat and picked one of the book containing spells, he read the book and just sat there in silence, ignoring the bushy haired girl that is running around all over the place. After about an hour, Hermione finally calmed down, they went to the Great Hall for food, and went back to the common room to end the day.

The first week was a bit hectic, the first class he had was Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall acted like how she looked, strict, in first class, she was waiting for the students using her Animagus form, a cat, which then only Ed greeted the Professor, the rest were ignorant of her because of the form. Harry and Ron were late for the class, which earn a scolding from Professor McGonagall, after that, the class were good, Professor McGonagall first explain the theory, then moved to practice, they were told to turn a match into a needle, Hermione got a couple of points from succeeding, albeit imperfect, and Ed got a rare praise from the Professor because he succeeded at the first try, after all Ed practised transfiguration quite early than everyone because of the suitcase, and at the end of the day, Ed and Hermione always worked on their homework in the library.

Then it was Charms class, Professor Flitwick was a good teacher, not strict, a cheerful man, he squeaked a lot which is quite funny, making the class more relaxed, he called the student’s name one by one to get to know them better, when Ed’s name was called out Professor looked at the boy intently, then smiled. But when he got into Harry’s name, he squeaked and fell out of the stack of books he was standing on.

Herbology was fine, Professor Sprout, was quite a teacher, she’s quite a nice lady to talk to, Neville was quite eager in the class because it’s his favourite class, and Hermione was hungry for some house points.

Defence against the dark arts was horrible. In his class, although Quirrell keeps stuttering and the class smells of garlic, Ed could also smell a tint of fresh blood, probably from Quirrell’s turban where Voldemort reside, he was alert at all times when he was in Quirrell’s class, but the others didn’t notice it which is good.

Astronomy was interesting, but Ed was horrible at it. Ed may be strong at practical lessons, but he was dreadful at theory lessons that have no practical demonstration in it, history of magic too, he almost fell asleep during the first lesson, earning a smack from Hermione besides him.

Speaking of Hermione, it’s almost become unbearable for Ed, she always corrects people around her, even though they didn’t ask, which made them annoyed at her, and she always shows off her knowledge to everyone near her. Like right now, Ed is walking to potions class with Hermione, she’s showing off her potion’s knowledge to Ed, constantly talking to him.

“Hermione.” Ed said a bit sternly, startling her.

“Y-Yes.” She stuttered.

“Don’t get offended, but you’re quite an annoying person, you know that?” he said to her bluntly.

“W-What?” She stuttered again, her expression looked a bit hurt and looked like she’s about to cry, and she clearly was offended.

Ed just sighed at the sight, but then said, “Do you even realise that you’re correcting people even if they didn’t ask you?”

She just bit her lip and answered, “Yes, I know, but they were doing it wrong! What if our house loses points because of it?”

“Yes Hermione, but you’re doing it wrong, you did it to them like you’re showing off your knowledge instead of actually teaching them, and while we’re at it, you’re always showing off your knowledge to everyone around you, even I’m starting to get annoyed Hermione, I get that you want to make friends by doing that, but it just didn’t work. And House points isn’t everything, you have to relax yourself, why are you even chasing the house cup? It won’t affect your academic results, you interfered in other people’s affairs just because you’re afraid of losing some meaningless points? The house cup is just an excuse to make a healthy competition between the houses, now, even ‘healthy’ is a bit of a stretch.”

After that, Hermione just walked in silence, pondering Ed’s words. It was harsh, but it was the truth, otherwise Hermione would suffer from bullying from everyone around her.

Then they arrived at Potions class, and took their seats. It was in a dungeon, which made the temperature a bit colder than usual. And to Ed’s surprise, Hermione wasn’t sitting beside Ed like all the classes before, she’s probably mad at him because of what he just said, she was clearly hurt by it, but it was a necessary, even if she won’t be friends with Ed again, at least she will have a better personality from it. Ed sat in the back of the class with Neville, avoiding attention.

“Hello Neville, Nervous?” greeted Ed to Neville.

“Hello Ed, yeah, they say Professor Snape is a bit scary.” Neville said, the look of nervousness can be seen on his face.

“Well, let’s just make sure not to drive his attention to us.” Ed comforted Neville.

Suddenly, the door slammed, revealing Professor Snape with his signature black robe, he spoke while walking towards the front of the class.

“You are here to learn the exact art and subtle science of potion-making.” He arrived at the front of the class, he scanned the students then he continued his speech, “As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this magic. I don’t expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the power liquids through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the sense, I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death, if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually teach.”

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‘Pfft... dunderheads.’ Ed snorted in his mind, thankfully Snape can’t read his mind because of his Occlumency. Snape then scanned the class again, and he saw Harry sitting between other students, writing, not paying attention.

“Ah, Harry Potter, our celebrity.” He said, with a mocking tone.

“Tell me Mr. Potter, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” Snape asked the boy.

Hermione instantly raised her hand in the air eagerly, but Snape ignored her, he just continued to stare at Harry who was sweating profusely.

“I don’t know sir.” Answered Harry weakly.

Snape just sneered at him, and continued, “Let’s try again, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”

Hermione once again raised her hand, but Snape still ignored her much to her dismay.

“I don’t know sir.”

Snape just looked at Harry and sneered once again, “Then what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?”

Hermione’s hand is still in the air, ignored by Snape, Harry however is now staring at Snape coldly.

“I don’t know professor, I think Hermione does, why don’t you try her?”

A few people then laughed at Harry fighting back, Snape however was not pleased.

“Silence!” he shouted, his expression looking furious, the class instantly went silent. He scanned the entire class, looking at the students one by one, he stopped at Ed, and his mood suddenly softened, making the others look at Ed strangely.

“Mr. Aldrich, do you know the answers?” he said softly.

Ed, surprise by Snape’s attitude towards him as well answered, “Um, Asphodel and wormwood is for Draught of the living death, a bezoar can be found in a goat’s stomach, as for monkshood and wolfsbane… they’re the same plant I think.”

Snape nodded, and said, “Good job Mr. Aldrich, five points will be given to Gryffindor.” He then looked at Harry, and his expression changed to the stern face again, and said, “As for you Mr. Potter, a point will be taken from Gryffindor for your cheek.”

‘That was… bizarre.’ Ed thought in his head, curious on why Snape’s behaviour was like that to him. The rest of the class was a torture to everyone except Malfoy, and surprisingly Ed, Neville, who was in the books got heavily criticized by Snape, was now a bit better, because Neville partnered up with Neville, he’s only lightly reprimanded, which make Neville thankful for Ed. Harry on the other hand, like the books, were targeted by Snape, he criticised him on simple matters.

In the evening, Ed was sitting in the Gryffindor common room along with his roommates, Hermione was still avoiding him, so he had nowhere else to sit. Ron and Harry were playing Wizards Chess, Dean and Seamus were just chatting casually about Quidditch and Soccer, while Ed was helping Neville with his homework.

“Do you know Professor Snape before Ed?” suddenly asked Neville, making his other roommates interested in the conversation.

“No, I don’t, if you’re talking about his attitude towards me, I’m just as confused as you. Maybe I’ll ask him someday, but in the meantime, I’ll just enjoy the privilege.” He answered with a bit of smug at the end.

“Well, I envy you mate, I wish Snape’s as nice to me as he was nice to you.” Ron grumbled. “He was nice to Malfoy as well, but the difference between you is you’re actually good at potions, unlike him, he was average, but Snape praised him like he was a master or something.” Truthfully though, Malfoy was quite good at potions, Ron just didn’t want to admit it.

“Yeah, and he was awful to Harry, I mean he was awful to everyone, but he particularly targeted Harry, I don’t know why.” Dean continued.

Harry just nodded weakly. The rest of the evening was uneventful, Hermione passed by Ed, but she ignored him, making the others look at Ed with strange looks, because usually she hangs out with him, after all he’s the only student that can stand her.

For the next day, Neville got his Remembrall in the morning, Ed went to the flying lesson, he was not good at using a broomstick, he’s even the last one who picks the broom up from the ground, and Ed was thankful that he didn’t even need to fly that day, Neville had an accident like in the books, he fell from the broom, he was saved by Ed using the slowing charm, so he didn’t get his bones broken, but Madam Hooch was still insistent on bringing him to the Hospital wing for checking any injuries. The fight that led Harry to become a seeker also happened, interestingly, Hermione still tried to stop them, even though it was useless, and Ed already told her about interfering with other’s affairs, but she did it anyway. In the end, Harry still became the seeker, even though McGonagall told him it was a secret, but everyone knew about it.

Time passes, and now it was the middle of October, Ed was practising offensive spells with Richard, Ed decided that he was going to train Richard self-defence, so he would at least survive the coming war. The classes were fine, he was good at DADA, potions, charms, and transfiguration, the rest, not so much, Herbology was bearable because of Neville, but even with Richard, Ed was still horrible with History of Magic.

“So, what’s going on with you and Hermione? In the first week you two were practically attached to the hip, but now, I don’t even see you with her anymore.” Richard suddenly asked while practising the wand movement for the disarming charm.

“Dunno to be honest, I just told her to be mindful of others and stop showing off knowledge, but after that, she just ignored me.” Ed said, while casting the blasting curse nonverbally on a dummy he transfigured.

“So, you two are fighting?” Richard asked again, this time trying to cast the disarming charm.

“Like I said, dunno.” Ed answered for the second time, he now tried to conjure ice and shoot it at the dummy.

“Spicis Glaciem.” He chanted, ice spikes started appearing besides him out of thin air and shot through the air to hit the dummy, and it hit alright, the ice spikes penetrated the dummy, making holes in it.

“That was— Bloody Brilliant!” Shouted Richard. “What’s that spell?”

“Family spell I guess, quite powerful.” Ed murmured.

“Wizard families have signature spells, that’s quite unfair.” Richard commented, a tone of annoyance can be heard.

“It’s just my family I think, but I don’t know, maybe every family has it, or not.” Ed said casually while shrugging.

The two continued for a while and Richard suddenly looked at the watch on his hands and cursed.

“Shit, I’m late for class, see you next time Ed.” He ran to his class and left Ed just standing in the class alone. Ed took a deep breath and cast the Reductor curse to the dummy, making it turned to dust, he just looked at the dust on the floor, his face looking tired, then he lays down, he looked up at the ceiling of the empty classroom, he thought about his situation when he didn’t even know magic and the situation right now, his feelings of loneliness, all the burdens, and mumbled, 

“It’s all the same.”

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